A/N: Surprise third chapter! It's a little short but VERY important so read closely! I'd been hoping to finish this chapter today, but I didn't want to promise anything.

I really look forward to hearing about your opinions on this chapter! Don't forget to leave a comment or a review!

A Digital Mother

Chapter 22

3037

Vala

"Alright. You ready?" Vala asked, looking at her friend. Aloy, the redheaded menace, was standing with her at the base of a brave trail, waiting to field test her newest invention. The very same trail where she'd set a new record only a couple years ago.

"I'm ready." Aloy nodded, jumping up and down a few times and shaking out her shoulders. "GAIA? You ready to time me?"

"Of course, Aloy. I am ready to begin when you are." The voice answered.

Ever since they'd taken over the old bunker, Aloy had become much more careful about her experiments. Mostly because she didn't want to damage their new facility was Vala's guess. The engineer had spent far too long working to get the place up and running to destroy it by being careless. She was also being far more careful about her own body and testing things that might get her killed or injured. Vala had a feeling that there were two reasons for this.

First was that with them both having turned 16, they were only three years away from running in the Proving. Thus, their training was of the utmost importance. Aloy couldn't afford to be laid up for months recovering from a broken bone because she was careless. The second reason was that she'd learned a great deal more about anatomy and the fragility of the human body while helping Vala test the repaired medical equipment inside the old facility.

Vala loved her new lab. She'd learned more about the human body in the four months the equipment had been active than in the three years before that! She'd even gotten to do a full scan of Teb to see exactly what was going on inside his lungs! Sure, she couldn't cure his asthma, but she could at least explain it better and show him what was going on. She'd even used it to save a life already!

A young Brave from Mother's Watch got hurt fighting against a Scrapper. The feline machine had developed the ability to shoot out energy bursts a couple years ago thanks to The Derangement. Those bursts could easily send a person flying. The poor Brave, a boy named Mos, got sent flying into a boulder during the fight. He'd wound up with several broken ribs and a punctured lung.

Since they were so close to the facility and Vala's skills as a healer were well known by most of the tribe by then, they'd chosen to bring the injured Brave to her. She'd had to work fast and in a bit of a panic, but thanks to her new tools and a little surgery she'd been able to reinflate and repair the lung in time to save his life. Then she just had to set the ribs and bind his chest. She'd put the Brave on bedrest for a month and light duty until he felt back to normal, but so far it seemed like he'd make a full recovery.

The effort increased her own fame amongst the tribe quite significantly. Aloy was well known within the tribe for a myriad of reasons. The last descendant of the Alpha's, blood of the All-Mother's chosen, being the only one with a second name, the inventions that'd revolutionized the tribe's way of life, even her unique red hair! Vala's only claim to any importance for years was being Aloy's friend and Sona's daughter. She'd admit to feeling a little jealous and inadequate for a few years. That was, until she started practicing medicine.

Vala had developed a deep fascination with the subject, far beyond just keeping Aloy alive. She liked being a doctor. Liked studying anatomy and saving lives just as much as she enjoyed hunting machines and running the brave trails. The fact that she was so good at it skyrocketed her to being nearly on the same status as Aloy, thoroughly destroying any feelings of inadequacy she might have been harboring. She'd even taught the other healers in the village everything she could. It was at the point now where injuries that might have been crippling or life threatening a few years ago were completely treatable by any healer within the Embrace and quite a few beyond it. Specifically, the ones on the front lines.

Still, she thought with a smile, her primary goal would always be to keep her honorary sister alive. That was why she'd started studying medicine in the first place, and it was why she made damn sure Aloy never tested her inventions alone. Just in case.

"Okay, here we go." Aloy shook herself out one last time before bracing herself.

"Ready?" Vala asked. "Now!"

The redhead took off, bounding up the slope. Near the top, rather than start climbing, she jumped and held out her new invention. A rope shot from the device, flying up the cliff. Around halfway up, the hook on the end clanked against one of the hand holds, grabbing firmly onto it. The rope went tight for a brief second before it began dragging Aloy up the cliff.

"Woo!" She shouted in glee. "It's working!" As she neared the top, she used the momentum to throw herself even further up the cliff, just barely getting her hands over the top. From there, she kept on going, using the device whenever the opportunity arose.

Vala dashed away down the road, following the redhead with her eyes as the girl continued to scale the brave trail faster than ever before. The 'Pullcaster,' as she called the invention, was basically a grappling hook. She'd gotten the idea from one of the old media files. Batman or something like that. Vala had only seen the clip she was talking about and hadn't watched the full file. Not really her kind of media. She preferred the medical shows that'd survived. She just wished they were intact and focused more on medicine than drama.

They'd been careful to test it on ground level many times before trying to scale anything of significant height. Running the trail with it was the final test before Aloy could declare if the creation was properly finished or not. It certainly looked like it worked.

Aloy was scaling the cliff far faster than she'd done it before thanks to the device. It was designed to hook onto anything it could before rapidly winding itself back up. The winding mechanism was attached to Aloy's belt so when it wound itself back up, the rope would pull her along to wherever the hook had landed.

Vala only just reached the base of the trail in time to see Aloy leap down the zipline at the top. A scant few seconds later and the redhead was repelling down the side of the cliff. After that, it was a short run down the slope to the road.

"What's my time?" Aloy asked, breathlessly.

"Six minutes and thirty-two seconds." GAIA replied. Vala grinned, beaming at Aloy. Well over a minute faster than her old record!

"Yes!" Aloy cheered, holding her hands up to the sky. "It works! Not a single problem the whole time, and it makes getting up the cliff so much faster!"

"Good job, Aloy." Vala grinned, hugging her friend. "Are you hurt? Anything go wrong?"

"Nah." The redhead waved her away, turning to trek back up the hill. "I think I got a few scrapes when I bumped into the cliff wall a few times, but it's nothing major." She looked down at herself, brushing off a bit of dust.

Once they reached the top of the hill, Aloy grabbed hold of her line and shook it to jimmy the hook loose. Nora rappel ropes and hooks were designed to come off when swung a certain way from the bottom of the rope. That way, they never lost it. Usually, if they were moving quickly, then you'd have to leave your rope behind, but Aloy was working on a design that would detach once the user hit the ground. Hopefully, it wouldn't have a tendency to explode like most of her prototypes.

Soon enough, they were all packed up and making the trek across the Sacred Lands back to the bunker. Vala had a few tests she wanted to run and Aloy was clearly bursting to start building Pullcasters for her, Varl, Uncle Rost, and probably even Vala's mother. The dark-skinned girl could only grin as the redhead happily ran ahead of her, using the Pullcaster to yank herself up into trees before leaping back down.

Eventually, Aloy was quite far ahead of her. Initially, she'd intended to run faster and catch up, but a nearby noise caught her attention. A low whine, like that of a wounded animal coming from a nearby bush. Crouching low, Vala pulled her spear from her back and approached the bushes.

Using the tip to push the branches aside, the young Nora gasped. There, hiding amongst the bushes and clearly injured, was a baby fox. The tiny canine whined, pushing away from her as best it could and deeper into the bush.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Vala whispered, dropping her spear to the side. She'd always loved animals. Before taking up medicine, the subject she'd loved most was learning about the animals of the old world. "Hello, little one." Hesitantly, she reached out a hand towards the fox, using the other to push away the brush. "What happened to your paw?"

The tiny kit hesitantly sniffed at her fingers. While it did, she took a closer look at the injury. It looked like a bite of some kind. Probably from another fox. The small canines could get very territorial when they wanted.

"Oh, you poor thing." She whispered, trying to keep the fox calm while she maneuvered her hands. Foxes were not amongst the dietary staple of the Nora. They typically kept to turkey, boars, and rabbits. No, foxes were usually kept around to help with pest control, so she was sort of used to handling them.

"Did you lose your mama?" Gently, Vala picked up the kit, who whined in fear. "Oh, don't worry." she said, soothingly. "I just want to get you all better. I'll fix your paw right up baby…" she took a brief glance, "girl."

Standing, she put her spear back where it belonged before tapping her Focus. "Aloy?" She called, "can you come back? I need a hand."

"Whoops!" her voice came through the call. "Didn't realize I'd gotten so far ahead. I'll be right there! Something wrong?"

"I might have made a friend." Vala replied, looking down at the tiny animal.

She moved towards a nearby boulder and sat down, still cradling the animal. Taking a closer look, it appeared that her paw was bitten by a much larger animal. Definitely an adult fox if she had to guess. After a few minutes, the fox finally calmed down enough to let her really examine it.

"Oh, he's so cute!" Aloy whispered once she'd returned. The redhead kneeled down in front of her, holding a finger out to the baby.

"She." Vala corrected her. "Can you help hold her? I don't want her to run away while I bandage her paw.

"No problem." Aloy replied with a smile. "Come here, you."

Gingerly, the redhead took the fox. Vala was rather amused to realize that the baby was almost the same shade of red orange as Aloy's hair. With her hands free, the young doctor was able to get out bandages and other supplies. Within just a few minutes, she'd gotten the poor animal patched up. It wasn't perfect, but at least she wasn't bleeding openly anymore.

"Are you gonna keep her?" Aloy asked while she worked. "You've always wanted a pet."

"Foxes aren't really pets, though." Vala argued, knowing that her friend was right. "They can't be domesticated."

"Sure, they can." Aloy rebutted. "You just need to change your definition of domestication! I mean, we can't keep her inside all the time like dogs and cats in the old media files, but that doesn't mean you can't keep her. She just needs wide open spaces to roam." The redhead looked around them. "We literally live in a wide-open space. She'd have plenty of space to roam during the day and a safe place to sleep at night."

"That's… a really good point, actually." She did want a pet. She'd always wanted one, but never really worked up the nerve to ask. Rabbits were food, so having a pet rabbit was out of the question. Same with turkey and boars. Raccoons were a no, and rats were definitely out so a fox really was her best bet if she wanted an animal companion. "I'll think about it." She said. "Either way, she's coming with us until her paw is all healed."

"Yes!" Aloy grinned, shoving the fox back into Vala's arms. "Come on! Let's get back to the bunker!"

"She can be a real handful." Vala sighed, looking down at the kit. "Why do I have the feeling that you'll be just as difficult and I'm going to wind up loving you for it anyway?" The tiny fox just yawned and burrowed into her arms. Soon enough, it was snoring away while the young doctor trekked her way across the Embrace.

Aloy

Aloy hummed happily to herself as she puttered around her lab, collecting the materials she needed to build more Pullcasters. She'd work up a real blueprint to present to the other weapon makers later, but there were a few she wanted to make personally before that happened. She was still so giddy over the success of her test! Vala was off in her own section of the lab, taking care of her new pet fox. They'd have to brainstorm names later, but for now her friend was focused on getting the tiny animal healthy again.

The idea for the Pullcaster, or grappling hook, came from a series of old vids she'd watched in the media files. Most of them were incomplete, but they showcased the animated adventures of a bunch of 'superheroes.' They were purely for entertainment, but the physics behind the grappling hook that the guy in the bat costume used was sound. So, of course, Aloy had to try building one!

She'd started with a Ropecaster and just sort of… made it go backwards. The principle was sound. The Ropecaster had a long, coiled rope attached to a barb or a hook, and when the trigger was pulled, it shot out the hook and rope to grapple onto machines. The hard part was making it reel back in again. The first design was huge and bulky and had to be wound back up manually. Totally useless, in Aloy's opinion. Well, it was useless for what she wanted, but there were plenty of applications it could have in other things, so she'd handed the designs off to a few of the other crafty people in the tribe and let them run with it.

The answer to her problem came from a pack of Scrappers, actually. The machines used a pair of grinding jaws to break up metal from dead machines or to break up rocks and other things. She hadn't personally killed them, but did get the opportunity to study the corpses of a few scrappers that'd been killed near Mother's Watch after the incident with Mos where Vala saved the poor guy's life.

The grinders used an automated rotor mechanism to spin at high speeds. Using that as a blueprint along with a few parts looted from the Scrappers themselves, and suddenly she had a fully functional automated rotor. It was far from perfect, but it was a start!

Once she'd figured out a solution to making the cable automatically reel back in, she'd had to test different rope types. Eventually, she'd settled on a kind of coiled metal rope that could be found inside some machine cables. A single strider usually had enough, but it was tricky to kill it without damaging too much of the cable. If it was broken and too short, there was no way she could fix the cable and still have it fit inside the finished design.

Version 2 had been much smaller and attached to her wrist. That was fun, but it was just too powerful. On the first test, she'd used it to scale a tree and wound up dislocating her shoulder from the force of the pull. Having Vala push it back in was an experience she did NOT want to repeat.

"Woo!" She whooped, hopping up a set of stairs and prancing across to her workbench.

"You did very well, Aloy." GAIA's voice chimed in over the Focus. "You've taken to engineering so well, and your passion for knowledge reminds me of Elisabet so much. I'm very proud of you."

"Thanks, GAIA." Aloy replied, stopping for a moment. There it was again.

Over the past few months… years maybe, something had started to bother her. Just a thought in the back of her head. One she was too afraid to voice, even to Vala but… she needed to know and there was only one person she could ask.

"GAIA?" She asked, "can I ask you something… personal? A couple questions, really…"

"Of course, little one." The voice replied, like she always did. GAIA was always there for her. Since the day they'd met, the kind voice had been with her. Like a warm blanket on a cold night, safe and comforting. That's why she was so afraid to ask this question. So afraid that what she was about to voice would ruin that relationship. "You can ask me anything. What's wrong?"

"You… you knew Elisabet Sobeck, right?" She asked, hesitantly.

"I did." GAIA replied. "She was a dear friend, as were all the Alphas."

"I… I just…" Aloy hesitated for a moment before blurting out the question. "Are you the All-Mother?"

"I… oh…" GAIA's shocked voice came through the Focus. Aloy closed her eyes, lip quivering a bit as the silence dragged on. "Yes." The voice replied, eventually. "That is the name the Nora choose to call me."

"Why… why didn't you tell me?" She asked, almost silently. "Is it because you're an AI?"

"How did you…"

"I figured it out about a year ago." Aloy admitted. "I was watching a few of the media files, and I came across the concept. After a while, it just sort of clicked. You can connect to technology easily, you've been alive for a really long time if you knew the Alphas, and as far as I know, you don't have a body."

GAIA sighed through the Focus. "Oh, my sweet child. I'm so sorry. Yes. I'm an AI, developed by Elisabet Sobeck and the other Alphas to help in their fight against the Faro Plague."

Aloy sighed, partially in relief and partially out of fear. Her suspicions were confirmed, but that just left her with more questions. She braced herself for further questioning. "Why… um. Why pretend to be a goddess if you're not one?"

"Oh, Aloy." GAIA sounded sad. "I'd hoped you'd be older when you discovered all this. I wanted to tell you myself, but I should have realized you'd figure it out. You've always been such a smart girl. I did not want to play at being a god, but I found I had no choice. I needed help, and the tribe were the only ones who could give it. Though, the Nora aren't technically wrong when they call me the All-Mother… All life that now exists did come from me and I have watched humanity ever since I resurrected the species. Restoring life on earth was my given task once the Faro Plague was dead. It's why Elisabet made me."

"So…" Aloy's head was reeling. She really was the 'All-Mother?' Literally? Sure, she wasn't a goddess, but she'd literally created all existing life? "So, does that mean, you can… make people? How… how does an AI make humans?"

"It is a long and complicated answer, Aloy." GAIA sighed. "I will tell you everything if you wish, but I beg you to wait. The full truth comes with a terrible burden, Aloy. One I desperately wish for you to avoid until you are ready."

"A… a burden?" Aloy asked, confused. "I don't…" She sighed. All the answers were here, right at her fingertips, and yet GAIA wanted her to… wait? Because of some 'burden?' "How long?" she asked, with finality.

"It has always been my intention to tell you after you completed the Proving." GAIA replied. "Once you were considered an adult in the eyes of your tribe, I would tell you. That was the plan."

"So, you were going to tell me?" she asked, seeking confirmation. "You'd always intended to?"

"Yes, dear one." The voice replied. "I've never wanted to keep things from you. I just wanted you to be ready before you learned them."

"Then…" Aloy hesitated, "then I'll wait." It almost hurt to say it, but she meant every word. "I trust you, GAIA. You… you're the closest thing I've ever known to a mother and I… did you know her?" She blurted out the one question that'd always bothered her. Ever since she was little, whenever she asked, nobody would tell her anything about her birth mother. "Rost always told me that the All-Mother brought me to the tribe after my mother died in her service. If you're the All-Mother then that means you knew her and…" Aloy's eyes went wide.

A thought had popped into her head. A revolutionary, terrifying thought. GAIA was an AI tasked with 'restoring humanity.' She was literally, somehow, able to create human beings. Aloy had been given to the tribe by the 'All-Mother.' By GAIA! Was she…

"GAIA?" Aloy asked, her voice quivering and her hands shaking. "Are you… did you… did you make me? Are… are you my mother?" Silence followed the question. A silence that seemed to stretch on into eternity. "GAIA?" A choked sob of fear escaped her throat.
"Yes." The voice whispered. "Yes, Aloy, I… I'm your mother." The redhead broke out into tears, collapsing onto a nearby bench and curling her knees into her chest. "Oh, sweetheart." GAIA's voice spoke, comfortingly in her ear. "I've wanted to tell you for so long. When you first found the Focus and I was finally able to speak to you, it was the first thing I wanted to say! I just… I couldn't. You wouldn't understand, not then. After a while, I just… decided to tell you along with everything else. I… explaining will take a great deal of time, little one."

"Don't." Aloy cut her off, wiping away her tears and fighting back the sobs of shock and joy rocking her body. GAIA was her mother! She'd known her mother all this time and never even knew it! Her… her mother had literally been mothering her nearly all her life and she hadn't connected the dots! "I… I said I'd wait till you thought I was ready, and I will. I just… I needed to know that. I needed to know who my mother was but I… I can wait for the rest. Just answer one last question for me."

"Anything." The voice replied.

"Do… do you love me?" Aloy whispered, almost afraid of the answer.

"Oh, Aloy." Her mother whispered back. "Yes. You are my daughter, and I love you with everything I am. I always have."

"Thank you… Mama." Aloy replied, wiping yet more tears from her face. At least these were happy tears. "I love you too."

A/N: So… that happened! Anybody crying yet? I was really nervous writing this one, so I hope I did it justice! Please let me know your thoughts and ideas!

That's it for the anniversary uploads. I hope you all enjoyed it! I'll be back on the monthly schedule for the next one, so it'll be a bit before that one comes out. Thank you all so much again for the support this fic has gotten. I really appreciate it!

Answers to Questions

On FFN

LunaShadowWolf: Thank you so much! We are getting closer and closer to ZD!

Vmage2: Thank you! I plan to keep this story and Hearthfire moving as long as I can.

Matt22152: Yeah, Avad won't really come into play until later. It was fun to hint at him though. It is my hope to take this story all the way through FW and the third game, whenever that comes out.

ExodiaGeass8910: That's a pretty good idea. I mainly focused on the main cast of the games, but having Karst in there is interesting.

KC0IVQ: The bunker will serve as her 'home base' for now until she gets the control center. I just liked the idea of her having a space like that for herself and felt it was wildly underused in Zero Dawn. Sheild Weaver is a definite yes, so wait for that. She'll get it. No, this is not the last chapter before canon. There are a few more of the raids era and then a bit of in between before we hit the Proving.

On AO3

Ryanlarsen84: Thank you! She's already doing crazy things in there.

Kasanra: Switching Alva and Varl could work. Thank you for the ideas! I did consider Petra, but I don't know about having her join the 'main cast,' you know? I'll think about it!

Storyt3113r: Just a few localized tremors. That's all.

Chiki270: Thank you!

ReviewerDWJ: How about a surprise third? Thank you so much for the reviews. I really appreciate it and I'm so glad you like the chapters!

Ao3Prime: I wish I had the time to write it! That's why I needed to get it out to the people! Somebody needs to write it since I don't have time!